{"product_id":"above-the-death-pits-beneath-the-flag-youth-voyages-to-poland-and-the-performance-of-israeli-national-identity-9781845453626","title":"Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag: Youth","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e \tIsraeli youth voyages to Poland are one of the most popular and influential forms of transmission of Holocaust memory in Israeli society. Through intensive participant observation, group discussions, student diaries, and questionnaires, the author demonstrates how the State shapes Poland into a living deathscape of Diaspora Jewry. In the course of the voyage, students undergo a rite de passage, in which they are transformed into victims, victorious survivors, and finally witnesses of the witnesses. By viewing, touching, and smelling Holocaust-period ruins and remains, by accompanying the survivors on the sites of their suffering and survival, crying together and performing commemorative ceremonies at the death sites, students from a wide variety of family backgrounds become carriers of Shoah memory. They come to see the State and its defense as the romanticized answer to the Shoah. These voyages are a bureaucratic response to uncertainty and fluidity of identity in an increasingly globalized and fragmented society. This study adds a measured and compassionate ethical voice to ideological debates surrounding educational and cultural forms of encountering the past in contemporary Israel, and raises further questions about the representation of the Holocaust after the demise of the last living witnesses.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e \t“\u003cem\u003eJackie Feldman’s book presents a fascinating and robust ethnographic study of Israeli youth voyages to Poland. Utilizing a most impressive array of methods, including participant observation, group discussion, content analysis of student diaries, and questionnaires, Feldman proposes that youth voyages may be unpacked as state-orchestrated civil religious rites of passage serving to transform Israeli youth, many of whom cannot trace their familial lineage to Shoah survivors, into carriers of ‘authentic’ Holocaust memory.\u003c\/em\u003e”\u003cb\u003e  ·  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e“Feldman’s book is to be recommended unreservedly: as an encouragement for empirically based research into the practice of memory, but also in regard to the often mentioned ‘future of memory’ of the NS crimes.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  H-Net\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e“...this at moments brilliant book is always intelligent and in-depth. It is written with scholarly integrity and erudition. The importance of Feldman's contribution to the scholarship of contemporary Israeli identity and the representations and the memory of the Holocaust is undeniable...It opens up fresh questions about the relationship between nation-state bureaucracies, textual and bodily experiences, and the pursuit of nationalism. And it asks where the limits and risks are of this conscious cultivation of nationalism in today's Israel.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  H-Soz-u-Kult\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e“Jackie Feldman’s study is a mandatory book, not only for teachers of history, but also for every educator and educational administrator. By means of methodical anthropological research, Feldman describes the components and construction, of the visits by young Israelis to the death camps in Poland, organized on behalf of the Ministry of Education since the 1990s, and their consolidation into a ritual construct of pilgrimage which strengthens and integrates mythical, religious, and national features.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  Journal of Israeli History\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e“The study offers an important contribution to an understanding of dealing with memory in Israeli society and creates a basis for a well-grounded and objective debate on a highly sensitive topic, the significance of which reaches well beyond the Israeli context.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  Newsletter of the Fritz Bauer Institute\u003c\/b\u003e, Frankfurt\/Germany\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e\"Jackie Feldman’s extensive research and absorbing analysis of Israeli youth voyages to Poland result in a compelling and unsettling argument about the meanings of Holocaust memory in Israel. This brilliant contribution will make us rethink the use of Holocaust memory in Israeli culture and society and beyond.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  Alon Confino\u003c\/b\u003e, University of Virginia, author of \u003ci\u003eGermany As a Culture of Remembrance: Promises and Limits of Writing History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003ci\u003e\"Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag offers rich ethnographic data and evocative observations on the transformative power of Israeli youth trips to the death camps in Poland and explores how they shape the youth’s historical consciousness. Jackie Feldman’s study is a must read for anyone interested in collective memory, tourism and pilgrimage, and the intricate meanings of the Holocaust in contemporary Israeli life.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e  ·  Yael Zerubavel\u003c\/b\u003e, Author of \u003ci\u003eRecovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition\u003c\/i\u003e. Professor of Jewish Studies \u0026amp; History and Director, The Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, Rutgers University\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e \tList of illustrations\u003cbr\u003e \tList of tables\u003cbr\u003e \tAcknowledgements\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003ePreface:\u003c\/b\u003e Seeking a personal past in the deathscapes of Poland\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 1. Introduction and Methodology\u003cbr\u003e \tThe Shoah, Jewish-Israeli identity and the voyages to Poland Identifying the voyage as a rite of pilgrimage\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe voyage as model and mirror\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eCommemoration and collective memory\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tJewish memory paradigms and their Zionist transformations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tTerritorializing Jewish history in Zionist practice\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eIsraeli social research on Shoah memory\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tFrom personal trauma to social constructivism\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tPrevious research on the Poland voyages\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eFrom process to product: The ethnography of the voyage\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tContext, Structure, and Performance in the Voyages to Poland\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tOrganization of the Book\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 2. The historical and social context of Iraeli Shoah commemoration\u003cbr\u003e \tThe history of Shoah memory in Israel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tEarly reactions to the Shoah\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tFrom the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur War\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tBegin's rise to power: The use and abuse of Shoah memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tGenerational time, the search for roots, and Israeli ethnicity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe Shoah in Israeli education - school textbooks and curricula\u003cbr\u003e \tSpaces and times of Israeli Shoah Commemoration\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tYad Vashem: monument and memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tHolocaust Memorial Day: calendar and commemoration\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 3. The structure of the Poland voyages\u003cbr\u003e \tOrigins, history, and proclaimed aim of the voyage\u003cbr\u003e \tThe title of the voyage: seeking my brothers - the masa to Poland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe voyage group as substitute family\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe Poland voyage as a masa\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eAdministration and voyage staff\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tVoyage staff\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe delegation leader\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe guides\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe accompanying teachers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe doctor and nurse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe Polish guide and driver\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe survivor - witnesses Security personnel\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eLogistic arrangements: Food, clothing, and flags\u003cbr\u003e \tThe preparatory program\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tSelection of participants\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe content of the preparatory program\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe itinerary and its implicit messages\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tExterior and interior space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tClassification of places in \"exterior space\": death, life, and Polish \"ventilation\" sites\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tAllotment of time at sites\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe rhythms of tim\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ee in the voyage itinerary\u003cbr\u003e \tStudent expectations, Polish landscape, and guiding narratives\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tGuides' narrative techniques\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tFrom structure to performance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 4. Performing the Poland voyages\u003cbr\u003e \tOn the road: Walking through the Poland Voyage\u003cbr\u003e \tRecruitment and voyage preparations at Sulam High School\u003cbr\u003e \tThe threshold of Poland\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day one\u003c\/b\u003e The road to Treblinka\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day two\u003c\/b\u003e \"This is Treblinka Station\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tTykocin: Synagogues of the past and the survivor as sheriff\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\"See, there are no birds in this forest\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tEvening discussion: when do we get to the Shoah?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eBus travel, ventilation and prayer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day three\u003c\/b\u003e Kabbalat Shabbat: Orthodox Judaism as safe Zionist heritage\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eShabbat rest, Shabbat shopping\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day four\u003c\/b\u003e Slouching through Cracow\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t(Non-)encounter with a Polish school\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tSinging for home\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tAfter Midnight: the staff meeting\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe heart of the Shoah: Auschwitz-Birkenau\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day five\u003c\/b\u003e Auschwitz I - Approaching the contested site of memory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tManifesting Israel at Auschwitz\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tVisiting the exhibition in Auschwitz I Birkenau — the Heart of the Death Camp \"Honoring\" the Righteous Gentile and the witnesses\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eVentilazia: on the road again\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day six\u003c\/b\u003e Touching the icons of death: Majdanek\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day seven\u003c\/b\u003e The visit to Majdanek\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tEntering the site\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe gas chambers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tShoes as relics: odour and authenticity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\"We’re the same children who were there at the end\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tClosing the circle: the final evening discussion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eGoing home: From Warsaw to Tel Aviv\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\u003cb\u003e- day eight\u003c\/b\u003e Confronting the not-yet-dead Diaspora\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe route of victory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tFinal ceremony: the little guy sends us on our way!\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 5. The ceremonies of the Poland voyages\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eIntroduction: What makes ceremonies different?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eContexts of voyage ceremonies\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tSchool ceremonies in Poland and Israel\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tSites, times, and configurations of ceremonies\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eRepresentative examples of ceremony types\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tDelegation-wide ceremonies\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tAbove the death pits, beneath the flag of Israel: the ceremony at Birkenau\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tWarsaw: a ceremony that failed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tBus-group ceremonies: \"Every person has a name\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tIndividual ritual acts\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\t\"Honoring\" ceremonies for Righteous Gentiles and witnesses\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eReligious texts and the commemorative ceremonies\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe close of the ceremony: Hatikvah and the flag\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eCeremonies as \"triggers\": group crying and consolation\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe ceremonies: Conclusions\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 6. Homecoming - the transmission of Holocaust memory and Jewish-Israeli Identity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eBecoming a witness - the aftermath of the voyage\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tTransmitting the voyage experience\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tTalking about the voyage: Conversations with classmates, family, and survivors\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tPresentations: Albums, videos, ceremonies, and the future of \"witnessing\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eSubsequent effects of the voyage on participants\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tChanges in attitudes towards Jewish tradition and the Diaspora\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe voyage and Polish others\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe voyage and dedication to the nation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tDedication to the flag and students’ political opinions\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tSurvival by proxy and service in the Israeli army\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe future of the Israeli voyages to Poland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eChapter 7. Holocaust memory, national identity, and transformative ritual\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eConclusions: Poland voyages as national pilgrimages\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eCosmopolitan and nationalist memories of the Shoah in the ages of representations\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eThe Poland voyages and modern state ritual: An event that models promoted by a bureaucracy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tModels and mirrors, bodies and texts\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \t\tThe risks of transformatory events in bureaucracies\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eAfterword\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cb\u003eAppendix: \u003c\/b\u003eThe orthodox delegations to Poland\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \tBibliography\u003cbr\u003e \tIndex\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Berghahn Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51042973253975,"sku":"9781845453626","price":89.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/above-the-death-pits-beneath-the-flag-youth-voyages-to-poland-and-the-performance-of-israeli-national-identity-9781845453626","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}